


The Warden's Daughter

by fruit1oop



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Darker and Edgier Villains, Deception, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Graphic Violence, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Rating May Change, Revenge, Subterfuge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-13 07:34:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15359451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruit1oop/pseuds/fruit1oop
Summary: Walker has a daughter, Vlad has a plan, Danny needs to stop being so oblivious.





	1. Chapter 1

 

#### Ghost Zone, Ghost Zone Prison and Police Department, Administration and Officer Dorms Building, 5th Floor, Warden's Office

Positively utilitarian could describe the office Plasmius a.k.a. Vlad Masters currently sat in as he slid a thin folder across the desk to the skull faced man that resided over the prison lair, gloved fingers picking it up and perusing the papers inside, a contract, a _proposition_. One that would benefit both parties quite nicely if he had to say so himself.

While his companion read, red eyes grazed across the room, taking in everything.

File cabinets across one wall, no doubt all stuffed with data he was itching to see for himself to compare notes

A murphy bed on the other, currently tucked away with only the tell tale sign of a large square outline and latch to give it away

Beside the bed, a large bookshelf packed with law books, plain green binders, and a few police drama novels that looked well worn and dog eared

The way he faced there was a wall to wall window looking down on the prison with a set of blinds that were currently pulled up

The chair he currently sat in had a second beside him, both were plain black, hard, and deliberately set to make the sitter squirm for some sort of comfort they didn't have

While the one Walker sat in was a deep purple, squishy and large, much like his own office seat at DALV

Ah but the important thing, the one that made Vlad smirk inwardly, was the simple silver frame that sat on Walker's large black desk. _The Warden's Weakness_. The reason he was sitting in this intimidating office in this uncomfortable chair waiting for the first words to come in that southern drawl.

"You... wish to use my daughter for this scheme of yours?"

_And there it was._

Vlad smiled brightly, taking in the raised brow and slight sneer on his companion, "Not so much use as... join together in a mutual understanding." He folded his gloved hands near his chest, elbows resting on the chair arms.

"So you say." Walker slapped down the file and gave him a hard stare with those pupiless glowing green eyes of his, "She's not for sale." His tone was clipped and firm.

"No no no, I wouldn't dream of trying to do such a thing!" He had to quickly do damage control before the warden lost his temper, "She could cancel the job at any time should she feel it necessary. I put my faith in the _excellent_ tutoring you no doubt gave her."

"Cut the bullshit Plasmius. A year going to the human realm's school in exchange for upgrading our equipment. Sounds like trying to buy my trust to me." He barked, a green energy building up around him that made Vlad subtly swallow. This was Walker's lair, his domain, and despite Vlad's confidence in his own abilities he didn't want it to come down to showing his halfa card. The building hummed around them to remind him not to overstep his boundaries.

"A year _torturing_ Phantom." He corrected, emphasizing the task he wanted "Don't you wish for revenge? To make him pay for ruining your perfect record, destroying several areas of your lair, harming your poor officers who were just doing their jobs, and releasing Wulf into the wild once more to make portals as he pleased?"

A barely noticeable tensing of Walker's jaw and Vlad knew he hit a sore spot. The plush chair swerved around, letting the warden see out the window and take a few minutes to think. Vlad would give him as much time as needed, within understandable limits of course. He needed the ghost to agree.

After several ticking minutes from the clock above the door, that southern timber came back, "And she can cancel the contract any time?" He repeated Vlad's earlier statement.

"Of course."

"And would upgrading the equipment include extending to halfa capture?"

Vlad flinched a bit, unseen thankfully, but he knew without this bargaining chip he'd be screwed, "Naturally. Can't have that nasty boy fleeing punishment in the future after all."

A bit more silence and the chair spun back around as Walker stood and picked the file back up, "Give me a week while I talk it over with her."

Vlad beamed, already knowing he won as he stood up as well, "Take all the time needed Sheriff." Walker nodded curtly and Vlad took his cue to leave with a bit of a bounce in his step.


	2. Chapter 2

 

#### Human Realm, United States, Michigan, Amity Park, Casper High, Classroom 207

Danny Fenton a.k.a. Phantom, sat in his homeroom with a sigh, gazing forlornly across the room at his friends who had been forced away from him day one. He twirled his NASA pen in his left hand as he waited for class to get started. Up, down, and around the thumb over and over again. Silver glinting from the harsh overhead lights. Another new year at the hell that was school, this time as a Sophomore and joy of joys subjected to Fuhrer Master's annoying uniform policy still. Just two more years and then...

_Then what?_

Danny frowned, pausing a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. _Then what?_ he repeated in his thoughts. He couldn't do his dream anymore. Not with his ghost half present, messing with his DNA now. Sure he bulked up, finally hit puberty over the summer and with ghost fighting now looked obnoxiously like his evil future self if a tad slimmer, so sure he could do the physical portion for becoming an astronaut no problem sans bloodwork testing. But the intelligence... let's just say he wasn't getting into the MENSA group any time soon.

At the head of the class his new teacher Mr. Welles' finished unpacking his black bag, ready for the day's lesson. Tanned skin, black hair in a floof framed with shaved sides, no nonsense green eyes, and an impressive height of 6'7" that made most students feel like kindergartners again.

"Alright class I'm glad you all managed to find your seats according to the roster. Makes me delighted that you can follow basic instructions and have reasonable reading comprehensions." He leaned his butt against the edge of his desk, arms folded and gazing at each student to watch them squirm a bit. If Danny could find any comfort it was that Dash and his friends had been seated far apart from one another as well. The arrangements drawn on the white board behind the teacher's desk with names clear as day.

Danny's eyes peered at the seat beside him. He'd been forced to the very front corner by the windows and the only other students near him was the one behind, which was Star, and a girl he didn't know. According to the board her name was Dahlia. A petite little thing that made Tucker drool and mutter "Lucky" at Danny when they took seats. Pale heart shaped face hidden within a platinum blonde bob, freckles across her snubbed nose, a skull shaped pin in her hair that glared back at him, and big sea-green eyes that reminded him of Lake Eerie.

At least she's nice to look at, Danny thought, watching as the other girl peeked at him through her bangs and fidgeted with a bright green bangle bracelet, spinning it around her wrist with a push of a red painted nail. He smiled, the girl giving her own shy one in kind, before there was a sharp throat clearing that startled him from his reverie.

"Fenton. If you'd please stop ogling the other students..." Mr. Welles was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. The teen squirmed with a blush as giggles from the peanut gallery sprung up around him.

The teacher rolled his eyes, "I won't tolerate any crap in my class. Chew gum with your cakeholes closed, listen to music during quiet hours, bring in drinks to sip on... I don't care so long as you don't trash my room, start fights, sleep, or abuse bathroom privileges." Green orbs locking onto Danny's blue pointedly at that last one. Danny grimaced, apparently this new teacher's heard of his 'notoriously weak bladder'.

"Alright with that out of the way, how about we start with some simple equation worksheets and it'll update me on how far into my itinerary you lot are at." He started passing out the simple busy work pages to each row, instructing them to pass it back.

Danny sighed, he just knew he was going to bring the class down again this year.

* * *

 

Danny rubbed his face already done for the year as far as he'd care to tell. He pulled the itchy school sweater vest he was forced into over his head, shoving it in his locker. Uniform be damned it was still way too hot to be wearing that thing. At least it was lunch. He, Sam, and Tucker could slip out to Nasty Burger for a bit. Although on second thought maybe he shouldn't piss his teachers off so early in the year.

A tap on his shoulder and he turned to greet Sam or Tuck but paused, seeing that small classmate of his smiling a bit up at him. "You dropped this in first hour." She held up one of the buttons he recognized from his book bag. Sam always insisted on picking one up from Hot Topic during each visit to the store before slapping it on his or Tuck's bags or jackets. This one was one he actually liked. A cutesy white ghost on a black background wearing a glittery gold crown with the words GHOST ROYALTY in gold beneath it. He thought it was funny to stick it to Pariah Dark or Prince Aragon by wearing it.

"Oh hey thanks. Darn things are always popping off." He held out his hand to take it and she nodded.

"I know how that is. It's a sad day when you lose one of your favorites." She pressed the button into his hand and he jolted slightly as the backing seemed to have still been open and was now dug into his palm at the surprising amount of force the girl used. She took no notice of his reaction and turned, "See you in class." She waved, walking down the hall towards the library.

He waved after her, grimacing a bit as he pulled the pin from his palm and flexed his fingers, a tiny droplet of blood in the center oddly reminding him of that childhood prank involving pretending to read someones palm.

 _You will be very rich with a big house and (spit) a swimming pool..._ He shook his head. No sense in bandaging up when it'll heal quickly so he pressed a tissue to it and closed his locker, heading to the cafeteria as he had planned before getting interrupted. His friends would find him at the usual table obviously. Hell they were probably waiting for him. God knows Tucker's stomach waited for no one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Jeremy Welles is one of my best friend Nicky's OCs and she gave me permission to use him as I didn't wish to use Mr. Lancer. It's a new year so a new homeroom teacher would make more sense.


	3. Chapter 3

 

#### Amity Park, Casper High, Room 207

_Just because school started why would the ghosts care?_ Danny pondered with a soft sigh of annoyance and frustration, leg bouncing up and down as he tried to ignore his ghost sense going off in Mr. Welles class. The man was worse than Lancer. Hardass didn't even breach the tip of the iceberg he was forced to work around and it weirded him out when his friends thought he was an okay dude.

Seeing the blurry form of Bertrand zoom pass the window had his hand immediately shoot up in the air. Mr. Welles took his time, Danny knew the man saw his hand shoot up dammit, as he finished writing the equation on the board and capped the dry erase marker. He turned and smiled placidly, "Yes Mr. Fenton?" He drawled lazily, "Are you volunteering to solve for X and Y?"

"No I need to use the bathroom... really bad." Danny gritted his teeth, ignoring the snickers that bloomed up around him. He looked back and caught Sam and Tucker's eyes, the two frowning and looking out the window. It seemed they saw Bertrand too and it was likely Spectra was around as well.

"You really should get your urinary tract checked out. I worry you'll get an infection one of these days." He sighed and shook his head, tossing the marker at Danny, "Solve for at least Y and I'll let you go."

"But..."

Jeremy Welles' eyebrow rose as his reading glasses slipped down his nose at Danny, leaning forward on his desk for the excuse. God he never thought he'd hate someone more than Vlad. Danny stood up and uncapped the marker, looking blankly at the problem and trying to solve it. In the silence of the room the marker squeaked on the white board and Danny's neck and ears were bright red as he had to count on his fingers for simple multiplication.

He finally solved for Y and turned, "Can I go now?" He asked embarrassed. Mr. Welles' looked at the board and sighed. With a red marker he corrected the equation. "Go. If you're not back in 15 I'm sending someone in after you. You can copy notes from Miss Walker when you return."

"Thank you!" Danny sped off. He had to find Spectra quickly then but thankfully he had a pretty good idea where she might be.

Rushing towards the therapists office while simultaneously changing into Phantom, his gut feeling was correct. Spectra was humming and looking through the student's personal profiles with a disgusting glee, soaking in the misery written on the pages and writing down names of those she particularly found juicy.

"Hello there Phant-ugh!" Spectra didn't get to finish as Danny punched her across the therapist's office.

"There's no low you won't sink to huh Spectra? Though I should already know by what you tried to do last year!" Danny shouted at her.

The red clad ghost grinned, wiping her chin of ectoplasm and snapping her fingers. Bertrand rushing from the shadows and wrapping around Danny, pinning his arms to his sides. "Let's see how my second favorite hot mess is doing." She purred, grabbing at his head with her sharp nailed hands.

"Only second? I'm hurt?" The halfa gritted his teeth and glared at her as memories and thoughts of failure flooded forward.

"By all means try to take the crown from Vlad Masters dear. Your misery is quite delicious."

"Of course the fruitloop is worse..." He groaned and reeled back his head before slamming it forward into the emotion sapper's face. Spectra cried out and startled by Danny's actions, Bertrand lost grip on him, "Don't you have some emotionally traumatized college kids to terrorize? I got two more years before student loans will be the complete death of me!"

Spectra grinned gleefully, "What an excellent idea Phantom. Maybe I'll go visit that sister of yours then! Bertrand!" She flung herself backwards and phased through the wall behind her before Danny could do anything, Bertrand quickly following with a cackle leaving Danny alone in the therapists office.

"Me and my big fucking mouth." He slapped his face when realizing he couldn't exactly go after them, "But at least they're out of here..." He sighed and deformed, hurrying back to class. He was surprised to see Dahlia exiting the room as he approached and she paused before turning towards the teacher inside, "Mr. Welles he's back!" she called and gave a small smile at Danny, "He was sending me to fetch you from the bathroom."

"Sorry sorry my bad." Danny rubbed the back of his neck, cheeks burning a bit at being announced to the whole damn class that he was done taking a piss even if it wasn't the truth.

"Welcome back Mr. Fenton. Must be my lucky day." Mr. Welles raised an eyebrow as he walked in with Dahlia. She sat down in her seat and when Danny did the same, slid her notes to him to copy down.

"Here..."

"Thanks."

"We're doing questions 25 to 50 in our math workbooks as well."

He nodded and looked at Dahlia's nice, neat penmanship with a sigh of relief. God knows if it had been like his or Tuckers or even worse _Dash's_ handwriting he'd have been screwed trying to read it.

"Thanks... again."

"No problem." She smiled beatifically and went back to her workbook, fiddling with her bracelet again.


	4. Chapter 4

 

#### After School

"What's up Danny? You've been grumpy since 3rd hour when Spectra showed up." Sam asked, pushing her deep purple-black hair back behind her ear. The trio was walking towards Danny's house, Tucker on the other side of Sam fiddling with his tablet while Sam had her phone playing music out loud.

"I accidentally sent the bitch to Jazz's college." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, "I tried calling her during lunch but just kept getting her voicemail. I'm really worried and I feel like an ass."

"Danny, not everything is your fault. You didn't mean to send her." Sam put a hand on his arm with a comforting smile while Tucker grinned and added,

"Besides if anyone can handle Spectra it's your sister. If anything she'll probably have her and Bertrand at each others throats in minutes."

Danny chuckled and had to admit that was probably what happened. Jazz had a few anti-ghost tools with her as well anyways. His friends were right and so he relaxed as best he could while Sam turned up a song from Dumpty-Humpty.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" Danny called, opening his front door and stepping in with Sam and Tuck. There was a gurgling roar and Jack called out, "In the kitchen son!"

Peering through, the trio blinked at Jack wielding a broom and beating a large glowing green jello mold back into the experiments fridge while Maddie was writing down her observations in a notebook.

The redhead smiled warmly, "How was school dear? Your father spilled some ectoplasmic energy we had into a jello cup."

"It was fine... uh need any help dad?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"No no I think this is gonna take all afternoon so why don't you and your friends go out somewhere? GET BACK FOUL GELATINOUS SPOOK!" The jello squealed and hissed, globbing onto Jack's face.

Maddie handed the trio some money absently and hurried to help her husband, the teens slowly backing up when the Fenton anti-creep stick was hauled out and Jack's cries of pain followed them out the door.

"Welp... Nasty Burger?" Danny rubbed the back of his neck. _Why was his family so weird?_

"Sounds good to me." Sam snickered, slinging an arm around his shoulders.

* * *

 

The burger place was busy as ever with the after school crowd grabbing bites to eat. Danny got a chicken sandwich, Tucker his usual meat monstrosity, and Sam mixed it up with french fries topped with the meat free chili.

"I'll go grab the drinks, Danny how about you snatch our booth before it gets taken?" Sam offered, taking the empty cups they were handed while Tucker waited for their order at the counter.

"Sounds good. I want the lime cola this time." He smiled and wandered towards the bathroom area where their favorite booth was.

He was surprised, however, seeing a familiar blonde girl sitting there already, books spread across the table while she nibbled on chicken nuggets and wrote in a notebook. Looking at the books he felt green at the gills at the sight of violent and gory police photographs mixed in with case files and plenty of legalese.

Dahlia sensed a figure beside her and looked up, smiling as always. "Hello Daniel. Something wrong?" She tilted her head, taking a sip from her soda.

"Ah... uh..." He swallowed, not feeling very hungry anymore, "You're in our booth..." He grimaced realizing how entitled and bratty that sounded. Shit it was like Dash and the A-Lister's _"You can't sit with us"_ attitude.

"Oh? Well there's plenty of room for four if you'd like to join me. I'll have to put away my books." She hummed, putting a sticky note in the book farthest from her and closing it.

"Did you grab our seats Da... Oh hey Dolly." Sam approached, a questioning look on her face.

"Hello Samantha." She smiled putting away a few more books, Danny noticed she didn't bother to close the most picture heavy ones first, "Just give me a second and I'll let you sit down. I assume Tucker will be joining?"

"Yeah." Sam slid into the opposite seat awkwardly, just to set down the drinks if anything.

Dolly made room and patted the seat next to her for Danny, "Well don't just stand there like a statue." She giggled, eyes only locked onto his.

"Um... maybe I should go help Tucker with the trays..." He stepped back and waited for her to put all her books away.

His ears burned hearing Dolly talk with Sam, "Squeamish isn't he?" When Sam picked up one of the law books and asked what she was working on.

Danny grabbed the second tray while Tucker balanced his own and they returned to the booth. Tucker grinning as he slid in next to Dolly, "Hey there~ Tucker Foley, your future boyfriend." He wiggled his eyebrows as she looked benignly at him.

"Well you'd have to fight my current boyfriend for my hand. I expect pistols at dawn tomorrow. I'll tell him right now so he can prepare. I do hope you have a weapon." She pulled out her phone, all the charms dangling from the wrist strap clinking together, and started texting. Tucker cried out and backpedaled, attempting to grab her phone from her hands. "NO NEED! NO NEED!"

Sam and Danny snickered, the halfa handing her her fries while he dug into his own.

"So you have a boyfriend?" Sam asked curiously.

"Correct. He's in college though so you wouldn't know him." She didn't expand much upon it, choosing to bite into a chicken nugget dipped in honey. The goth made a face, but busied herself with own food, an awkward silence washing over them.

Danny fidgeted, Dolly was staring at him while Sam and Tucker started arguing about something he wasn't paying attention to. She kept smiling creepily and his skin was starting to crawl.

"You know..." Her soft southern drawl cooed beneath the shouting match between them, "You have absolutely delicious looking eyes... like big blueberries." She giggled, licking a salt covered finger.

"Wh-What?" He squeaked and she gathered her things.

"Well I must be heading home now. Please let me out of the booth Tucker." She pulled her bag over her shoulder and picked up her tray while Tucker got up so she could get out.

She looked straight at Danny, "See you at school if we don't meet sooner." It felt ominous to the halfa, the boy shivering but nodding to be polite.

"Danny!" His attention was immediately ripped towards Sam who had the familiar fires of social justice in her eyes, "Tell Tucker it'd be perfectly fine for the next Doomed game to have a girl protagonist!"

"What would it matter? It's first person!"

"I... what?" he stammered and Sam rolled her eyes. Perhaps he should have stayed home and worked on his... _Ah shit... I have homework..._ Danny groaned and dropped his head onto the table.


	5. Chapter 5

 

#### Friday, Casper High, Behind the Cafeteria Kitchens

_Weekend. Glorious weekend._ Was all that went through Danny's head as he headed towards school. He had slept over his alarm so he was running late, running late meant having to fly to school to make it. God knows he didn't want another reason for Mr. Welles to hate him.

Landing in his usual spot behind the dumpsters by the kitchens, he paused when there was a cry of pain and a sick crack of something hitting flesh. _Is Dash kicking someone's ass again?_ Peeking around the corner he froze. Halfway across the span of the empty cafeteria outer wall a female ghost stood over the Box Ghost, a retractable baton in her hand splattered with ectoplasm while he cowered against the brick wall.

She was small but... had an oddly intimidating aura. Instead of the usual green of most ghosts her skin was a lavender shade and she was wearing a white and black outfit that reminded him of someone but he couldn't quite put his finger on it; a blouse with puffy short sleeves, black gloves, a white and black southern belle styled mini skirt with a black belt holding a gun and holster like a cowboy, white stockings with black pinstripes, and black cowboy boots with sharp glowing green spurs.

"Now Boxy we spoke about this before..." The girl ghost spoke, voice eerily calm and somewhat gentle and sweet like scolding a mildly naughty dog. She stood up fully, putting on a black cowboy hat to complete her ensemble, and jabbed her baton into the palm of her hand to collapse it.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know you w... were here!" Box Ghost cried out through a mouth full of blood, slowly moving backwards to try and get some space between them, "Please don't... don't tell your dad!"

She smiled, her face hidden in shadows from her hat, "I might consider it if you do me a teeny weenie itsy bitsy favor and all will be forgiven~ "

"Anything!"

"Hey!" Danny decided to intervene and stepped around the corner in full Phantom mode still. _Nobody beats up the Box Ghost but me dammit!_

Box Ghost took that chance to flee and the girl turned slightly towards him, green eyes glowing brightly in the shadow of her hat. "I hate nosy people..." She muttered softly, wrinkling her nose.

"You're coming with me! I'm taking you back to the Ghost Zone!" He shouted, reaching for the Fenton Thermos hoping he could get her before she retaliated. However a gunshot rang out and he gasped as the Thermos flew from his hands down the alley.

She grinned coldly at Danny, shifting the shiny silver and black six-shooter to aim at Danny's head. Ectoplasmic energy swirled down the dark shaft of the barrel and he stepped back.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" She fake gasped, putting a hand to her chest before purring and pulling back the hammer on her revolver, "I don't recall ya having any sort of authority, sugar. Mind showing me a badge?"

"This is my lair! My territory! You can't stay here!" He tried pulling, remembering that ghosts respected such things but knew it was a long shot if she didn't care.

"Oh? That so? Then why haven't ya kicked out Ol' Plasmius?" She tilted her head amused.

"B... Because..." _Shit she knows about Plasmius?_ Danny swallowed hard trying to think, "Because he was invited!"

"Funny... he seems to think ya hate him ever so much." her gun hadn't moved an inch from Danny's head, arm steady as Skulker's with that green dot ready to be fired. The shrill last minute bell rang out and the girl frowned briefly, "Ya better get to class shouldn't ya? Gotta keep up that double life doncha, halfa?" She hummed, walking backwards slowly.

"I'm not letting you terrorize people in my territory! And what do you know about-" The gun went off again and his eyes widened as he felt the ecto-energy breeze by his ear. A coldness and then sharp burning pain. He reached up, touching with his gloved hand and finding the white rubber stained with neon green.

"Get moving. Or I won't miss. I got things to do ya know." The gun clicked again and he saw her eyes glowing brightly in the shadow of her hat, "I've given ya two warning shots already. Don't ya think I'm being mighty generous?"

"You shot me!" He gathered up energy and fired a beam of ice, the ghost dodging quickly and sliding across the dewy grass with a feral smile.

"It's not yet time to play with ya Phantom. But be assured I will soon. I promise ya that." She fired at him again, clipping his side and while he was distracted in pain she disappeared.

"Fuck... another psychopath after my blood... ectoplasm... whatever..." He groaned, going to his backpack as final bell for class rung, as if the day couldn't get worse before even starting. His healing factor and a bit of ice energy to dull the pain let him get to class with none the wiser beyond having a dull headache now from his ear.

Mr. Welles certainly let him know what he thought of Danny coming into his class tardy but changed the absentee mark on his attendance sheet to a present as if in pity. "Perhaps you should ask your parents to make you a new alarm clock since they enjoy making those fancy gadgets all the time." He commented before addressing the entire class to hand in their homework.

Next to him there was a soft tap on his elbow and Dolly smiled sympathetically, offering a sealed packet of aspirin. "Bad morning?" She asked.

"More than you know. Thanks." He took the packet and swallowed them dry, glad to dull the phantom pains in his body at the moment.

"No problem." She turned and handed in her homework to Mr. Welles and Danny froze. _Shit I forgot my homework..._ He groaned and his head hit the desk. Needless to say Mr. Welles was not pleased.


	6. Chapter 6

As the lunch bell rang Danny groaned softly hearing the most dreaded words in existence coming from Mr. Welles' lips, "Mr. Fenton please stay in your seat. I wish to speak with you."

His friends look torn whether to wait for him or not so he made a little shooing motion, giving them the go ahead to go eat lunch. Sam and Tucker smiled in sympathy but headed off, Sam wiggling her phone a bit to show him to text her when the teacher was finished. Danny fidgeted as Mr. Welles waited for everyone to leave before closing the door and going back to his desk, pulling out a large school folder and moving a spare chair out of the closet to set it in front of his desk.

"Fenton, sit there." He motioned to the chair and Danny reluctantly did so, warily looking at the file on the desk. "Do you know what this is?" He asked, tapping a finger against the manila cover.

"No but I have a sinking suspicion..."

"It's your school record." He cut through the bullshit immediately, "You've been absent and tardy around 50 times in the last school year, your grades had plummeted from B and A- averages to a D-F average. The principal had been debating whether or not to flunk you and make you retake the last year but you managed to pull your grades up slightly at finals enough to pass." Mr. Welles flipped through the files, "Various school fights initiated by Mr. Baxter and his goons and the multiple ghost attacks have been noted as possible distractions from your studies and thus you were given leeway."

His dark green eyes pierced into Danny's blue briefly making the halfa fidget a bit.

"I must insist that you don't let these ghost attacks damage your potential career choice, Mr. Fenton." He folded his hands together and rested them on the table, "It says you wished to join NASA some day. Do you still have that dream?"

"I..." Danny paused, did he really still dream of NASA. Being an astronaut was shot... he supposed he could become an astronomer... but it was kind of depressing not being able to go towards the stars himself. "I don't know anymore..." He admitted.

"Well with your grades you wouldn't have a chance becoming a janitor at the building!" Mr. Welles said harshly, making Danny flinch, but he softened a bit and sighed, "Why are you still in school?"

"Uh... because it's state mandated and would get my parents into trouble if I didn't?" He offered.

Mr. Welles snorted a bit and there was a twitch of his lips, "I suppose that's true." He looked up at the clock on the wall and rummaged in his desk again, pulling out a half loaf of bread, a bunch of bananas, and a jar of nutella with a plastic knife. He started making sandwiches, causing Danny to look at him in utter confusion before he was offered one, his stomach growling hungrily as he had to skip breakfast.

"Thanks..."

"No problem. Now... you could not even bother giving a shit coming here," Mr. Welles spoke bluntly, "Damn your parents, damn the school, damn the whole state and all that. I know I did the same in high school before I got my shit together."

Danny paused and looked at his teacher with raised brows in surprise. The strictest teacher he's had since Mrs. Beach in fourth grade had been a delinquent?

"Oh don't act all surprised." Mr. Welles snorted, opening a can of soda, "It's why I'm hard on you. I want you to get your ass in gear earlier than I did." He reached over and flicked Danny in the forehead.

"I... I suppose I still want to work for NASA as an astronomer..." Danny admitted, rubbing the sore spot on his head now.

"Then you can't let all these distractions bother you idiot. Whether it's Baxter, a part time job, your friends, or a girlfriend, you gotta concentrate on the here and now." He jabbed a finger on top of Danny's school file with a frown, "i know you try and hide how much you enjoy ghost hunting like your parents. Always hauling around that thermos in your backpack."

Danny gulped, "My parents..."

"Are more than adequate at fighting spirits and if they aren't it just shows how incompetent they are." He explained and set a water bottle in front of Danny.

The teen took a slow drink and another bite of his nutella and banana sandwich with a frown, trying to think. _Was it really worth damaging his school records and his future like this?_

"You need to also think about your friends as well. How much do they help you with your homework? Do you three get distracted often?"

Danny turned pink and scowled, "My friends are just fine."

"I'm sure they are but how often do you end up playing video games with Foley? or wind up in one of Manson's crusades against everything not ultra-recyclo-vegan-kosher-whatever?"

"Not... often..." He tried lying but it came out poorly. To tell the truth he got easily distracted. He tried ADHD medications but it messed with his head and he hated it.

"Just keep what I'm saying in mind. I only want for you to succeed." Mr. Welles' bit into his own sandwich and there was a silence that fell between them as he watched Danny mull it over.

"Alright... I'll... try." He sighed.

"Perhaps what you need is someone who won't distract you like Miss-" The teacher began before getting interrupted by the bell ringing, announcing the end of lunch. Mr. Welles blew out an annoyed puff of air and stood, cleaning his desk with napkins, "After school tomorrow I want you to return to this classroom where you'll meet your study partner."

"Aww come on..."

"You really think you're going to improve your grades with that attitude you may as well drop out now, Fenton."

Danny flinched and grumbled, "Fine..." He grabbed his bag and stormed off towards P.E. They were going to play dodgeball and a wicked grin came on his face. Eager for once to take his frustration out on Dash with a hard rubber ball to the face... or twenty.


	7. Chapter 7

"So you gotta go back to homeroom after class?" Sam asked, walking slowly with Danny from biology. He groaned and nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah it's better I go. Mr. Welles really tore into me yesterday."

"Well it's been oddly quiet lately. Maybe it won't be so bad."

"That's what I'm worried about." Danny sighed as the goth girl frowned, "Too quiet... I'm worried the fruitloop is up to something." They trudged down the stairs to the second floor to room 207, "Well I'll see you later Sam."

"Call me later. Me and Tuck are probably going to just hang out and do homework anyway." She smiled and gave him a brief hug before breaking off at the staircase.  
With Sam gone, he shifted slightly. There was always a bizarre eeriness when a school becomes empty. He wrinkled his nose slightly, supressing that feeling of goosebumps and turned to the door when he heard two voices.

 _One must be my... eugh... tutor..._ He thought, with the other voice obviously being his teacher. Twisting the knob, he opened it slightly and caught snippets of the conversation.

_"This could compromise everything. Why me?"_

_"You're the one that wanted to torment the twerp. I can't do much in my position you know. Not unless I want to get fired."_

_"Oh please, it's not like you want to work here anyways."_

_"That position is mine once that geezer drops dead. He's one step on Death's door and when that Dumbledore looking fuck is gone I'm out of here and teaching students that actually have a brain stem."_

Danny grimaced and knocked loudly, causing his teacher and the other person to turn as the door opened.

"Ah there you are Fenton. I thought you were going to skip... like usual." Mr. Welles muttered that last part, stacking homework into a neat bundle and using a bullclip to keep them together in his bag.

To Danny's surprise, his tutor was Dahlia. The girl plastering on a rather odd smile. "Ready to learn? We can go to the library or maybe the park! Where do you think you can focus the most? Mr. Welles says you have a lot of catching up to do. I'm glad I brought all my notes. What parts are you having the most trouble with? Long division? multiple variables in equations?" She talked so fast in her southern drawl Danny felt dizzy and stammered, stumbling as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him with a strength he was unaware the small girl could have out of the classroom and into the hallway. A chuckling Mr. Welles following behind him like an omen.

"W-Wait slow down!" He cried out and pulled his arm free of her hold, rubbing it slightly with his other hand, "So you're my tutor. How long do we have to do this? Isn't there anybody else who could... you know..."

She frowned and looked hurt, "What? You don't think I could teach you algebra?"

"No! No! I didn't... I meant... urgh..." He grimaced, feeling like he put his foot in his mouth. Truth be told Dolly just... creeped him out. Had been since that day at the Nasty Burger with the law books. And that was saying something considering he dealt with ghosts on a daily basis.

"Well fine! I'll just go and tell Mr. Welles I'm not needed!" She huffed and turned, stomping back towards the classroom. Images of Mr. Welles immediately flunking Danny, telling him to not bother coming to class anymore, angry disapproving glares if he tried to explain, flashed in front of Danny's eyes and he panicked, grabbing Dolly's hand and nearly wrenching her off her feet.

"N-Nonsense! You're a perfectly fine tutor! I... I need your help! Please don't go!" He begged and she went still, turning her head slowly and narrowing her eyes at the halfa, "L-Let's just go to the library and start there? Okay?" He put on his widest, cheesiest smile in a hopes to appease her.

After a while of her just glaring with pursed lips, she blinked slowly and hummed, "Fine. But that's strike one Fenton. Two more and you can kiss tutoring buh-bye." She jabbed a finger into his face and headed to the school library. Danny following like a whipped dog, carrying his math and note books.

* * *

The library was empty mostly, with only one or two kids typing on the computers in the back, the librarian stamping book returns, and a library aide on the second floor putting books away.

Dolly took a seat at one of the dozens of empty tables and motioned for Danny to sit next to her as she pulled out her things from her bookbag. Danny dumbly watched, idly noticing her nails were painted black like shiny latex.

"Let me see your notes." She held out her hand and he shook his head, giving her his notebook and she wrinkled her nose, "What is this? Were you ever even paying attention?"

"Of course I was!" He glared and defended before sheepishly adding a "Mostly..." at the end. Her sea green eyes rolled and she flipped her extensive notes to where Danny's started.

"The examples he wrote on the board aren't even the same. Have you ever gotten tested for dyslexia? It's okay to admit it."

"Yeah... it's just... math is confusing is all. I do fine in science and stuff."

"So I hear..." She flipped through the notes with a red pen, correcting all his mistakes with her neat, almost typewriter-like handwriting till it was a near copy of her own notes, including annotations and copies of what the teacher had said in order to get the quotient of each example.

"Jeez I don't even know if I can fix this mess. Algebra is pretty straightforward for God's sake yet you can't even do the starter equations from the beginning of the year."

"I'm trying my best..." Danny's ears and the back of his neck were red hot. He felt like he was 6 inches tall instead of 6 feet as she watched him struggle with her constant reminders of this or that step towards solving the problems. But he had to admit he was slowly getting it. Not fast enough for her liking but he was.

"Hmm... maybe if we continue like this for the next week you'll get a passing grade on the next test." She said, checking his work and finding he actually completed at least one equation on his own after the two hour mark.

"I... I can't do it after school every day. I got a thing with Sam and Tuck on Thursday."

"Do you want to fail?" Her tone was suddenly harsh and he swore the room dropped several degrees as a coldness went up his spine like someone poured ice water down his shirt. The students at the computers paused typing turning the room deathly silent. The librarian across the room suddenly shivered behind the check out counter and went to the thermostat to check if it broke again.

"Do. You. Want. To. Fail?" She repeated, emphasizing each word as she stared him down and Danny swore her eyes were much more greener than they were before. And... glowing.  
He swallowed and shook his head, "No. I want to pass. I want to get into NASA."

He blinked and suddenly everything was back to normal. The two in the back returning to typing out their essays and talking to each other in quiet voices. The librarian's stamp thudding against returned books in a steady rythmn. The squeaky wheel of the student aide's trolley as she pushed to the next aisle to put books back on shelves.

The teenage girl smiled at the confession, "I know. So let's work together on this okay? I wouldn't dream of seeing you fail miserably after all." She put a gentle hand on his arm and it made goosebumps along his flesh pop up. "Let's call it a day and tomorrow we'll meet up here again after classes. You did such a good job today Danny." She gathered up her things neatly in her bag and waved goodbye, "See you tomorrow~" she chirped and with a flounce of her skirt and the scent of lavender perfume, was gone out the door in seconds.

Danny inhaled sharply, feeling like he had just run a marathon and gulped again. He gathered his things as well, pausing to inspect his wrist where a growing purple bruise started where his peer had grabbed him earlier.

"A week. Just a week. I can do this."


	8. Cracking

Three days into Dolly's hellish tutoring and Danny thought he was going insane. She was highly strict, to the point of making Danny tidy up his uniform just to not get yelled at by her. But the thing was, everyone loved her and didn't believe him when he tried venting. She was too cute, too soft, too sweet to be any way like that.  
  
She smiled and treated everyone; nerd, jock, goth, and everyone in between, the exact same way with patience and understanding. He had watched her stop a kickball game because a fat squirrel got stuck trying to pass through the field and she didn't want it getting hurt on accident. Hell, the other day she brought in homemade peach tarts to homeroom.  
  
He knew he wouldn't have been believed if he claimed the one he was given had a red irised eyeball on top before Dolly chirped, "Oopsies, that's mine!" and swapped it out for seemingly normal tart from the tin. It was difficult to swallow the pastry when Mr. Welles' gave him the stink eye for not eating the treat out of politeness. Nobody commented or seemed to notice Dolly happily biting down on her treat with white goo oozing out over her fingers like icing. Despite that he still told Sam and Tuck though they insisted it was probably just a Halloween prank being done early.  
  
To make matters worse, the school announced that there was going to be a Teacher/Parent assembly in the gymnasium to discuss student academics. Danny was pretty sure Vlad had something to do with it, he didn't know how but it was a gut feeling and his gut was rarely wrong.

  
He sighed and looked up at Dolly across the picnic table, the girl smiling and texting on her phone briefly before noticing she was being looked at. "Are you finished with the workbook? Let me see." She pulled out that damned red pen of hers and grabbed the workbook.  
  
"No I only did a couple of problems. I'm having trouble with a few." He gritted his teeth, admitting fault.  
  
"Ah..." She popped her lips and frowned, looking at his book and marking things wrong. From the amount of red she marred the pages with, Danny internally groaned realizing he was going to get a tongue lashing.  
  
"God. Did you even pay attention to anything I've said the past few days? Are you really this dense?" She slammed the pen down on the table and glared, "Maybe we should take you all the way back to kindergarten and relearn addition!"  
  
"Hey I'm trying my best here!" Danny barked back, ears and neck bright red and eyes narrowed. He was getting sick of her treating him like shit.  
  
"Don't talk back to me, mister! You're the one failing this class and I'm sittin' here wastin' mah time tryin' ta teach your dumb ass! It ain't no skin off mah nose if you completely blow it!" She stood up, hands pressed against the table as she stared him down, cheeks red with anger and her southern accent thickening.  
  
"Maybe you just fucking suck as a teacher Miss Perfect!" Danny stood up too, mimicking her pose and they were inches apart. An electricity building around them as neither were going to back down now that the gauntlet had been thrown.  
  
"And maybe you're just braindead! Nothin' but fluff in 'tween your ears! How's 'bout I just call Mr. Welles and he can find some other poor piece of shit to try and teach ya!"  
  
"DO IT THEN!"  
  
"FINE I WILL!!"  
  
"Ahem..." Both teens turned and saw a 20-ish year old man with snow white hair wearing a soft blue hoodie and jeans. He was holding a takeaway coffee tray and a bag from a local cafe. His eyes were as bright blue as chips of ice in the arctic ocean. "Did I come at a bad time, honey?" He asked amused and a little concerned.  
  
"Oh Thorek, I didn't know you were so close." Dolly's anger faded into a smile and she bounced up, kissing the man on the lips.  
  
"I could come back later. Though the coffee will get cold." He chuckled, letting the small girl tug him to the picnic table.  
  
"We're almost done with tutoring anyways, might as well stay."  
  
"Sounded like you were permanently done with it." He raised an eyebrow and looked at Danny, thrusting out a hand, he wore a green bangle on his wrist like Dolly did and the halfa wondered if it was a fashion trend or... "Thorek Castren, I'm Dolly's boyfriend. You must be Danny Fenton. I heard quite a bit about you." Ah so it was a couple's bracelet.  
Danny slowly shook his hand, "I'm sure you did..." He muttered, "All bad I'm betting..." He sat back down and was surprised when Thorek handed him a coffee and donut from the bag.  
  
"I hope you don't mind plain glaze. I didn't know what kind you'd like." He smiled kindly at the teenager.  
  
"Yeah it's fine... You didn't really have to get me anything." He sipped the coffee and found it a regular roast, black with no cream or sugar. But thankfully it looked like Thorek grabbed some packets of both and had them in the drink tray.  
  
"Nonsense. It would have been rude if I showed up with just drinks for me and Dolly." Thorek waved his hand and sipped on his own coffee. His girlfriend was happily biting down on a peach filled donut, looking like she wasn't about to rip Danny's head off not even 30 seconds ago.  
  
There was a bit of an awkward silence with the two males looking at one another. Sizing up of one another. Danny vaguely got the feeling in the back of his mind that Thorek probably didn't appreciate this little punk yelling at his girl.  
  
"So... you seem a lot older than I thought you'd be." Danny said and immediately winced at how rude that sounded.  
  
Dolly's eyes narrowed as she licked her fingers of sugar but Thorek chuckled, "I suppose. But you aren't her father now are you?" He grinned a bit, his eyes lighting up and he gently pulled Danny's workbook from beneath Dolly's elbow, looking at the problems, "Your biggest mistake is forgetting to carry over the one in multiplications. You also can't decide which order you break down the problem, just picking and choosing which are the easiest without taking in the brackets being there for a reason." He explained calmly.  
  
Something clicked in Danny's head and he frowned, "Oh is that what I'm doing wrong?" The college student nodded and showed him a step by step process with one problem.  
  
"I think I get it now. Thanks!" Danny beamed and tried it with the next problem.  
  
Dolly puffed up her cheeks like a frog and looked at her boyfriend, "I've been trying to get it into his thick skull for days! Why is it when he listened to you he finally got it but not me? I even did the stupid step by step thing too!"  
  
"Maybe it's that cute accent of yours keeps distracting him, käraste." He leaned down and kissed her. Danny rolled his eyes.  
  
"Flattery and food will get you everywhere, mon cher" She cooed and leaned against his arm, snuggling up and sipping on her french vanilla latte with coconut whip.  
  
"I think I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." Danny snorted, gathering up his things, "Thanks for the coffee and donut Mr. Castren."  
  
"Please, call me Thorek." He smiled, wrapping an arm around Dolly who glared at Danny to get lost faster if he knew what was good for him.  
  
Danny got the hint and grabbed his bag, hurrying off quickly. If he passed the next test hopefully he'd be rid of the psycho Dr. Jekyll/Missus Hyde crazy girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thorek belongs to my best friend DovahNicky


End file.
